


Dumb

by Theyisms



Series: Son of a Preacher Man [13]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Denial of Feelings, Dom/sub Undertones, Fluff and Humor, Implied Sexual Content, Jealousy, M/M, Nirvana Reference, casual friendship, mentions of BDSM
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-11-28 20:02:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20972255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theyisms/pseuds/Theyisms
Summary: And here he thought he was the only one.





	Dumb

The past few times Demyx has gone over to Axel’s house, the door has been unlocked for him. This time is no exception. The only thing different is that there’s an extra car in the driveway. He decides to park in front of the house so he doesn’t block this person in.

Demyx enters the house like he owns it; he drops his keys on the table, unbuttons the top few buttons on his dress shirt, and leaves his shoes by the door. He notices that another pair of shoes are here, and stares at the cream colored heels for a few seconds. Axel never mentioned having a sister, or even a female friend. He takes a slow, deep breath and averts his eyes. It’d be better for him to just ask and not assume anything.

He walks further into the house, but stops when he almost bumps into a blonde woman coming out of the kitchen. He quickly steps back to give her room to move. “Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you.”

The woman looks him up and down with a scrutinizing glare. He’s seen that look too many times in his own home to not recognize it. “Who are you?”

“Demyx,” he says as he extends his hand with a polite smile. “I’m Axel’s um…”

He narrows his eyes. How is he supposed to describe what they are? Technically they are friends, but should he disclose the details of their “friendship?” He doesn’t know who she is or what her relation to Axel is and he doesn’t want to say the wrong thing and mess up his life.

The woman glances down at his hand with disinterest. “His friend?”

“Yeah.” He keeps the smile on his face as he pulls his hand back and shoves it in his pocket. She didn’t have to leave him hanging like that. “And you are?”

“You don’t need to know that information.”

Demyx tries not to frown. What’s her issue? “Okay…”

She gives him another quick once over and laughs. She’s laughing  _ at  _ him and he knows. “You should probably come back later. Axel’s asleep.”

“No I’m not.”

Demyx turns his head to see Axel rubbing his eyes lazily with one hand. His hair is pulled back into a low ponytail and his pajama bottoms are only barely staying put on his hips. He apparently didn’t bother to wear a shirt. Relief sets in as Axel approaches. He’ll explain what’s going on, and then maybe he can stop Demyx’s paranoid brain from overthinking.

“Excuse  _ me _ , then.” The woman smirks up at him. “I can’t believe you kidnapped a fucking mormon.”

“I did not kidnap him. He decided to get in my van all on his own so shut up.”

“I’m not a mormon?”

“Yeah,  _ that’s _ going to hold up well in court.”

“Hey, can you not be insufferable for five minutes and leave? You were supposed to be gone hours ago,” Axel frowns.

She scoffs, but it looks playful. Demyx purses his lips. Something is definitely going on here, and it’s making him extremely uncomfortable. “Fine. I’m gonna be busy all next week so don’t call me.”

“Trust me, I won’t.”

The woman turns her attention to Demyx. And now she’s smiling at him? But she’d been so rude to him before. What’s with the sudden change?

“It was  _ so  _ nice to meet you, St. Peter.”

Oh.

Axel’s nostrils flare as he snaps his fingers and points toward his front door. “Get the fuck out.”

The woman cackles as she walks away without a care in the world. Demyx can’t help but watch as she puts her heels on, grabs her keys, and leaves.

Well now he knows who the other car in the driveway is for.

Demyx looks up at Axel for an explanation. The poor guy looks exhausted. “Okay so…” He groans as he reaches up to press his fingers to his temples. “There’s a lot to unpack here, and you’re either going to thank me for being honest or leave and never come back.”

He shrugs in an attempt to look nonchalant. The last thing he wants is to be a source of stress for Axel but running into...whatever her name was is stressing him out for reasons he can’t explain. “Try me.”

Axel grimaces as he reaches up to scratch the back of his head. “Okay, so...that was Larxene. To put it simply, she’s my bdsm mentor.”

Demyx isn’t really sure what that means. It’s probably written all over his face.

“It just means she teaches me new things and keeps me in check. I can barely tolerate her, but she knows what she’s doing and is a really great teacher.”

“Oh, okay,” he chuckles in relief. “For a second I thought you two were hooking up, you know?”

Axel laughs. “God, no, I...can’t be physical with my mentor after...the person I told you about before _ . _ But Larxene does introduce me to potential new subs.”

Demyx’s brow furrows in confusion. And frustration. “So you  _ are  _ hooking up with other people?”

Axel blinks stupidly. “Kind of? There’s sex involved, but it’s just play.”

He’s not sure what he should say or do right now. It feels like the wind has been knocked out of him. He is absolutely not saying that Axel can’t live his life and have sex with other people but what the  **fuck ** does he mean he’s having sex with other people?

Is he being stupid or does he have a right to be upset? They both agreed to keep this casual, yes, but this is something he should have at least known about so that he wasn’t caught off guard. God, Larxene probably knew what he was there for the second she saw him. He feels like an idiot.

“I feel like I’ve fucked up somehow,” Axel says.

Demyx opens his mouth to speak, but a humorless chuckle comes out instead of words. Because  _ what the fuck? _

“Dem, you’re freaking me out. If you’re mad or confused about something, just say it.”

He shuts his eyes and takes a moment to collect himself. He tells himself that everything is fine and that he’s probably just overreacting. He opens his eyes again when he thinks he’s calmer, but the second he looks into those pretty green eyes, he realizes that everything is not fine. It hurts. This wasn’t supposed to hurt.

“You could have told me.”

“I should have,” Axel admits. “I absolutely should have told you that there are others and that’s my fault.”

“Yeah, it is your fault! How am I supposed to not freak out knowing that the guy I’ve been sleeping with is also sleeping with other people? Not only am I concerned about my fucking health because I  _ blew you, _ I’m also worried that there’s other shit you’re not telling me. And on top of all that, it just…” he takes another deep breath, hands curling into fists, “ _ really  _ fucking sucks to think you’re the only one and then find out you’re not, you know? It’s embarrassing and I feel fucking stupid.”

He can see the genuine concern in Axel’s eyes, and it helps that he’s not detached from the situation. Part of him expected Axel to be dismissive and cold, like when he’d accidentally make him angry, but he isn’t.

“I understand why you’re upset, and I’ll say I’m sorry however many times you need me to. As far as your health goes, I have documents to prove that I’m disease free. I test regularly so—”

“Let me see those. Now.”

Axel reaches out to him, offering his hand. Demyx stares at it. He wants to ignore it, to be absolutely furious and petty and dismissive, but he can’t. He places his hand in Axel’s and lets him lead him to his bedroom. Demyx’s breath catches as he looks down at their hands. Their fingers are intertwined again. Axel’s been doing that a lot lately and he wonders if it’s on purpose.

They enter his room, and Axel kneels in front of his dresser to open the bottom drawer. He pulls out a manilla folder and hands it to Demyx. “Clean as a whistle,” he tries to smile.

“Whistles actually hold a lot of bacteria.”

“Can you let me be funny?”

Demyx stifles a laugh as he takes the folder. “Not so funny when you’re on the other end of it, huh?” He opens it and looks at the documents. These tests had been done a week ago, and the only thing he could find was “negative” and “nonreactive.” That’s one less thing he has to worry about. 

With a sigh, he closes the folder. “Okay.”

“Are we good?” Axel asks hopefully.

The blond shrugs. “I guess,” he relents.

Axel stands and slowly approaches him, hands extended as if he expects Demyx to suddenly attack him. “Dem, I’m sorry. I fucked up and I’m so sorry.”

Demyx pushes his hand through his hair and sighs. He knows Axel is being genuine, but that doesn’t stop the ache in his chest or relieve the tight knot in his stomach. “How many others are you seeing?”

Axel grimaces. “It varies. I don’t have any other subs but I do play with others if we can negotiate. And even that’s not as often as it used to be because of you.”

“Thank you for telling me the truth. That’s...fine, I guess. Just please tell me if you get another sub or whatever. I’d rather  _ know  _ you’re busy with someone else than to assume you just forgot about me and moved on.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you. If I wanted to end this I’d tell you to your face. I want us to actually talk to each other, because ignoring the problem never solves it, it makes it worse.”

Demyx averts his eyes again. He wishes he could just stop being like this. Axel probably thinks he’s being clingy and wants a relationship with him. No, Demyx wants this to stay casual just as much as Axel does. Relationships never work out for him. They always make him feel awkward and uncomfortable. He doesn’t quite understand romance or what it’s supposed to feel like. He knows how to go through the motions, but it all seems so...fake and unnecessary.

Axel finally closes the distance between them and wraps his arms around him. Demyx hesitantly returns the hug. He wants to believe that Axel has good intentions. He so badly wants to believe in the only person who has the ability and permission to break him down and build him back up again, but it’s exhausting. Casual isn’t supposed to feel exhausting. It’s supposed to be easy.

“You okay?” the taller man whispers into his hair.

He shakes his head gently. He actually feels shaky and unsteady. “No.”

Axel presses a gentle, audible kiss to his forehead. “Don’t be mad at me, Demy. If it makes you feel any better, you’re my favorite mormon ever.”

The blond snorts as he pulls away and shoves his chest. Axel stumbles back, but he doesn’t go very far. “I hate you. I’m not a fucking mormon.”

“Shhh,” he grins as he grabs Demyx’s by the hands and pulls him closer. Their fingers slip between one another’s  _ again _ , and something in Demyx’s chest winds itself tight. “Come talk to me about our lord and savior. I need deliverance.”

“It must suck to be so painfully unfunny,” Demyx smirks.

“You laughed though.”

“I exhaled in surprise because you’re so dumb.”

“There was a small  _ hee hee _ there. I heard it.”

“There was no—shut up, I’m still sort of mad at you!”

“That’s  _ why  _ I’m doing it,” Axel smiles. “I know my apologies aren’t enough right now, but I still wanna see that pretty smile.”

Demyx presses his lips together to hide the stupid grin that’s sure to take over his face any second now. How the hell does Axel know how to make him feel better so quickly? He looks away and laughs softly. “Not to be totally homo but...youuuu think I’m pretty?”

“The prettiest.” He leans down to give him a proper kiss. “I also think it’s cute when subs get a little bit jealous.”

The blond sputters and laughs. “I am so not jealous.”

“You are, and that’s why it hurts that I didn’t tell you.” Demyx’s smile slowly falls as he stares up at him in confusion. “I’m not oblivious. I know you’re hurting right now. You’ve grown to trust me enough to let me see you at your most vulnerable and have complete control of you, and that’s a huge fucking deal. That level of trust obviously comes with some attachment, which is fine because I’m...kind of attached to you too.”

Demyx swallows hard. He didn’t want to become attached to him ag all, but it’s nice to know that Axel...never mind. He won’t even entertain the thought. “But is that casual?”

“Do you want casual? Do you want a friendship? Or do you want me to be your dom?”

Truthfully? “I want all of that, but I also want to keep  _ feelings _ out of it. I don’t want anything romance-y.”

Axel takes his hands again. “I can give you casual and I can be your friend, but if you want a D/S type of relationship, you’re gonna need to be completely honest.” He rubs the back of Demyx’s hand with his thumb. “Especially with yourself.”

Is he trying to tell him he  _ isn’t  _ being honest with himself? 

“I am,” Demyx tells him. “I know what I want and it’s you.”

That famous sparkle returns to Axel’s eyes. He inhales slowly, and maintains this incredibly intense eye contact with him. “Fuck…”

Demyx starts to panic. “Did I say something wrong?”

Axel shakes his head. “No. You’re just really cute.”

“And pretty?”

“You are very cute and very pretty.”

“Mm, okay I’m not mad at you anymore.”

They start to chuckle softly, but it bubbles into full blown laughter. And Demyx, with his heart beating rapidly in his chest, their foreheads pressed together and lips occasionally touching between giggles, realizes that Axel may be the best thing that’s ever happened to him. He doesn’t care if it’s not as easy as he thought it’d be. He’s willing to fight for this.


End file.
